The military-industrial complex and the big corporations have been very much aware that some people know that the Presidential elections of 2000 and 2004 were stolen, and that many people are angry with the black box voting machines that make mass election rigging child's play. So they have had their Plan B in place for years to deal with public outrage, should it ever arise.
As usual, rather than sacrifice a corrupt system that benefits them to the tune of trillions of dollars annually, they will make some cosmetic reforms to the system, enough to let people think there is hope when there really is none. This time it takes the form of paper trails and open source software that will leave the hackable voting machines in place and permit another stolen Presidential election in 2008. The Democratic Party, Common Cause, and many other large organizations are rallying around HR550 which calls for paper trails, or calling for open source software.
The problem with open source or paper trails is that both systems require painstaking and time-consuming recounts in order to verify that no tampering has taken place. A vote cast on a voting machine may look right on the touch screen and on the paper trail, but may not actually be counted as cast when the central tabulator tallies the votes. With open source software elections officials, poll workers who take the machines home with them, and anyone else with access and programming skills can tamper with the election, but only experts can examine the software afterwards to determine if corrupt code had changed the results and then erased itself.
During the time the public is asking for a recount, and the experts are examining the software, the wrong candidate can be installed. As we saw in 2000 and 2004, there is no remedy once they are sworn in. Experts can prove conclusively that the elections were stolen, they can rant, rave, publish their studies, go on radio and TV, blog, write books, but many will still dismiss them as conspiracy theorists or sore losers and the losing candidate will still remain in power.
The solution we need was introduced in Congress in September:
Paper Ballot Act of 2006 (Introduced in House)
HR 6200 IH 109th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 6200
To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require States to conduct Presidential elections using paper ballots and to count those ballots by hand, and for other purposes
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES September 27, 2006
Mr. KUCINICH (for himself, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida, Mr. CLAY, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. FILNER, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Ms. KAPTUR, Ms. LEE, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Ms. MCKINNEY, Mrs. MALONEY, Ms. SOLIS, Ms. WATERS, and Ms. WOOLSEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committee on Government Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require States to conduct Presidential elections using paper ballots and to count those ballots by hand, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the 'Paper Ballot Act of 2006'.
SEC. 2. REQUIRING USE OF HAND-COUNTED PAPER BALLOTS IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS. Section 301(a) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
'(7) SPECIAL RULES FOR PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS- Notwithstanding any other provision of this subsection, in the case of a regularly scheduled general election for the electors of President and Vice President (beginning with the election in November 2008), the following rules shall apply:
I'm an anti-civilizationist and election boycott advocate in San Diego. For reasons not to vote in faith-based elections with secret vote counts for candidates you cannot hold accountable if they fail to represent you, check out the discussions, articles, and videos on my website http://noinnovember.ning.com
With the number of Governorships picked up by Dems one might surmise that we would see, in those states, a return to paper ballots authorized by these new Governors. Federal statutes as you suggest, making voting uniform and safe in all states, might be a valid way but I can visualise the hue and cry about federal intervention in states rights and all that.
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2377 comments)
on Saturday, November 11, 2006 at 5:53:32 PM
Hand Counted Paper ballots are expensive, time-consuming, ridiculously primative, and a throwback to the middle ages. The only advantage they provide is the ability to ensure that the person that the people voted for is elected and sworn into office.
And that is the only advantage needed.
Let's clean up our elections. Howzabout a system where the students from civics classes of the local high schools sit in an open room, counting and double-counting the votes in front of the public? Yes, it's a fact that the electronic systems can count and tabulate the votes so much faster--but tell me, just how fast can we cycle the public through those voting booths? A small team of kids would get the opportunity to see just how the democratic process works first hand--or at least how it's supposed to work.
The people have spoken, with the 2006 vote throwing the corrupt republicans out of power, and putting in the corrupt democrats in. But that's not enough! In a government system that is representative of the people, the people have to have a consistent dialogue with their representatives. Let's let these representatives know that we are serious, that we want changes made, and made now--not wait until just before the 2008 election and start some ineffectual posturing. And, as I have said before, we have to let them know that we will stay on their tails to ensure they respond to the people--not the big corporation$, or we will fire them. And follow up, and get them out of office and someone in there who will be responsive.
Thanks for the great article!
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David Bourne (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 10 comments)
on Saturday, November 11, 2006 at 6:29:15 PM
Because with or without your permission, I intend to quote you far and wide.
And the idea of having high-school student help with the hand counting is also excellent. Here in San Diego, when the Registrar of Voters couldn't get enough pollworkers because people were uncomfortable with the machines, he recruited 1,000 advanced placement high school students and it worked out very well.
Very well said, Teacher Dave. Good to know that at least some of our kids are in excellent hands.
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Mark E. Smith (21 articles, 30 quicklinks, 100 diaries, 1325 comments)
on Saturday, November 11, 2006 at 6:52:52 PM
and we bought into the idea that anything new is also something better. The technology boom overwhelmed us all and we placed trust in those handling the developments. Ask any level headed software developer and he'll confirm that there is no such thing as perfect software, or a perfect software program. Anyone using a B. Gates product knows what I'm getting at.
HCPBs are not primitive. Blindly trusting your leaders is.
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Tony Forest (6 articles, 15 quicklinks, 153 diaries, 1350 comments)
on Sunday, November 12, 2006 at 3:24:31 AM
It is my impression that the election process in Canada, which uses paper ballots, is efficient, honest and the results are known within an hour or two of the polls closing. It can happen here......
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2377 comments)
on Sunday, November 12, 2006 at 9:17:04 AM
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